Well, the most recent international break is now over and the proper football starts again. A quick mention at the point for the Welsh National team to congratulate them for achieving qualification for the first major tournament since before I was born! Lets hope they don't mess it up when they play in the European championship finals in France next summer.
Former Bluebirds players Aaron Ramsey (top) and Chris Gunter played a major part in the qualification of Wales to the European championship finals in France next summer.
RESULTS SINCE MY LAST POST:
CARDIFF 2 HUDDERSFIELD 0
CARDIFF 0 HULL CITY 2
ROTHERHAM 2 CARDIFF 1
CARDIFF 2 CHARLTON 1
BRIGHTON 1 CARDIFF 1
Cardiff 2 Huddersfield 0
Cardiff achieved their third consecutive league win against struggling Huddersfield, the first time we have won 3 consecutive league matches since the promotion season. In truth, Huddersfield were poor and offered little attacking threat. Cardiff had to be patient, however, and the introduction of Sammy Ameobi with 30 minutes remaining turned out to be the decisive move of the game. His cross to Anthony Pilkington was turned in following a tight turn, and soon after Joe Mason sealed the game with a calmly taken finish.
Fabio in action against Huddersfield - he is finally showing much better form this season.
Cardiff 0 Hull City 2
Could it be 4 wins in a row? Sadly not, as recently relegated Hull City came to Cardiff a few days later. It gave a stark reminder of the amount of money at the highest level, with Hull fielding a side all with much Premier League experience. If there is such a thing as an encouraging loss, the this was it. Hull took the lead after 8 minutes when a rebound fell conveniently for Sako to fire home. but Cardiff did not let this get them down. They continued to play football and put much heavy pressure on the Hull defence. There were one or two good calls for a penalty which were turned down by the referee and it just wasn't our night. A late breakaway by Hull made for a flattering score of 2-0, but this was not really a true reflection of the game.
Rotherham 2 Cardiff 1
This was a disastrous game where everything went wrong. Most importantly, goalkeeper David Marshall got himself sent off for petulant behaviour following an argument with Rotherham forward Matt Derbyshire, giving away a penalty in the process. Despite this, Cardiff equalised before half time and put on much of the pressure in the second half. but just when it looked like we were going to hang on for a point, Matt Connolly scored an unfortunate own goal in stoppage time, giving Rotherham their first win of the season. A bad day at the office all round.
Naughty boy David Marshall
Cardiff 2 Charlton 1
Another game where patience paid off against inferior opposition. These were the sort of games that we would have lost last season. Cardiff dominated the game, but then went behind against the run of play early in the second half. But another Joe Mason goal4 minutes later brought Cardiff back into it. The introduction of Sammy Ameobi again caused problems, and following a corner, Peter Whittingham was given a second chance to cross which Sean Morrison was able to put away. A much more convincing win than the scoreline suggests.
Sean Morrison acknowledges Peter Whittingham's part in the winner.
Brighton 1 Cardiff 1
Another strong test, this time against top of the table and unbeaten Brighton. This game showed some of the resilience of the team, and their ability to play for each other. An excellent early move saw Joe Mason give Cardiff the lead after 5 minutes. Brighton then continued to dominate for the rest of the match. Their equaliser came after 37 minutes, but they were unable to get any further goals. For the last 10 minutes of the game, Cardiff seemed to have the Brighton attack under control, and had one or two chances to score on the break themselves. Ultimately a satisfying result against a team now expected to be near the top of the table at the end of the season.
Joe Mason celebrates his 5th goal of the season with Kenwynne Jones.
Lets get down to business!
As usual, the Championship is incredibly competitive.There are only 3 points separating the teams in third and twelfth place, with Cardiff between them in eighth. I think that the top 8 teams at the end of the season will come from the current top half of the table. We play 2 of the challenging teams (Middlesborough and Ipswich) and 2 of the struggling teams (Preston and Bristol City) during the rest of October, and if we can get 7 or 8 points from those matches it can give us a chance for a strong push into the Christmas period. We are challenging, and are good enough to at least make the playoffs. now is the time to prove it.
